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Overall crime numbers drop, but rapes, assaults and homicides rise in Virginia Beach

Posted at 12:37 PM, Feb 01, 2013
and last updated 2013-02-01 12:37:40-05

Virginia Beach, Va. – Beach police have released the 2012 crime statistics for the city. The overall number of crimes dropped from 2011, but rapes, aggravated assaults and homicides rose.

Police say the overall crime rate was 28.1 crimes per 1,000 residents – the lowest since 1965.

The overall crime rate includes both violent crimes – homicide, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault; and property crimes – burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and arson.

Violent crime, which accounts for only 6 percent of the reported crimes, decreased by 2.4 percent when compared to 2011.

  • Homicides increased 40 percent from 15 to 21.
  • Robberies decreased 22.3 percent from 412 to 320.
  • Aggravated assaults increased 19.5 percent from 292 to 349.
  • Rapes increased 17.2 percent from 58 to 68.

The crime rate for violent crime was 1.7 crimes per 1,000 residents for the City of Virginia Beach.

Property crime accounted for 94 percent of reported crime and decreased 3.4 percent.

  • Burglaries decreased 23.1 percent
  • Larcenies increased 0.7 percent
  • Motor vehicle thefts decreased 0.4 percent
  • Arsons decreased 10.5 percent.

The crime rate for property crime was 26.4 crimes per 1,000 residents.

Click here to read the full report.

The Virginia Beach Police Department cleared 65.2 percent of violent crime cases during 2012 and 29.6 percent of property crime cases.

According to the most recent figures from the FBI’s 2011 Crime in the United States, the average violent crime clearance rate for all cities with a population of 250,000 or more was 40 percent; the average property crime clearance rate was 13.7 percent.

Police Chief James Cervera said, “We are pleased that our overall crime rate has continued to decline over a 10- year period. Last year violent crime was down by 2.4% and property crimes by 3.4%. Our continuous above national average clearance rate is a direct result of highly trained and educated officers and staff of the Virginia Beach Police Department. We also commend our highly successful Crime Solvers program and tireless citizen participation in keeping our city safe. We vow to remain focused on proactive crime prevention strategies and our goal-oriented focus on neighborhood issues revealed in 1400 door-to- door surveys. We will continue to reduce crime in 2013 using community partners and technology to allocate manpower where it is needed the most to ensure that Virginia Beach remains one of the safest cities in the nation.”